Brett Favre is now a New York Jet. Although I would have preferred seeing him stay in Green Bay, this is what he felt he needed to do. I’m still a Packers fan, and I still admire Favre’s accomplishments with the Packers. He said he will always be a Packer; in my mind, he will always be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. I wish him only the best wishes.
I’ve been keeping quiet and watching this drama unfold from the sidelines. But I’ve been harboring some conflicting feelings since Brett Favre announced that he wants to return to the NFL. On the one hand, I enjoyed watching him lead the Packers and have nothing but the utmost respect for his accomplishments, both on and off the field. On the other hand, I would like to see the Packers move forward in the post-Favre era (I didn’t expect to see him play forever, even before he retired).
The decision to retire as a player cannot be easy. Favre came out last March and announced that he just didn’t have it in him anymore; this was two months after his season ended. I feel that once you’ve made the decision to retire, you should be absolutely certain that it is what you truly want. Favre, however, waffled and started hinting at coming back only three months after his announcement. He pulled this off after the Packers started its first training camp, after the Packers (and all the fans) started moving on and announced Aaron Rodgers as the team’s starting quarterback.
I helped coordinate and participated in Bike to Work Week this past May. The idea is that if you ride a bicycle, you should ride it to work. Coordinated by the League of American Bicyclists and state or local cycling advocacy groups, many communities are offering a number of incentives to ride to work.
Since I ride a road bike, I didn’t think it would be too difficult getting to and from work. However, I did a dry run recently and discovered that my ride is actually much longer than I anticipated (17 miles instead of 12 by car; 1 hour and 20 minutes). But that was nothing compared to what I discovered when I rode the first time to work this week:
For the two days of the week that I rode, I logged in almost 41 miles (the first trip lasted just under 9 miles). That Saturday, my legs felt better, so I decided to ride with a group. The group left from one of the nearby running stores and rode north, offering 20-, 35-, or 50-mile rides, starting along a bike trail for the first 10 miles. I chose to ride for 20 miles; since I rode to the store, my total distance was longer. It was during this ride when I worked on some climbing technique. Although the route that I rode didn’t have many tough hills, there were some slightly challenging climbs.
The next day, I tried to take the same ride. I got up much earlier for this one, so I was dragging almost the entire way. I made 8 miles and decided to head back. But then I decided to venture out onto another branch of the trail. So my endurance ride would turn into a leisurely exploration ride. I also turned a potentially 16-mile ride into a 24-mile ride. So over the weekend, I ended up riding 52 miles; for the week, I rode 93.21 miles. I fell shy of my all-time longest week of 93.51 by only 0.3 miles. Not a bad week, but I could go longer yet.
After dealing with a nasty wind the day before, what would I do the next day with an outdoor temp of 73 degrees Fahrenheit and up to 40 mile per hour winds? That’s right: ride again.
I contacted my friend Josh and agreed to ride with him to a little town south of us called Paoli. Paoli is about 10 miles south of where we started, but getting there involves traveling down one road, looping around, and heading back; in reality, the ride is over 30 miles.
Now here’s a neat concept for bicycle commuting. The City of Portland (Oregon) installed a bicycle signal at one of its dangerous intersections. The purpose is to help bicyclists cross, especially inexperienced riders who are still uncomfortable in traffic. In a way, it also helps drivers to remember to share the road.
The setup includes a sensor and a dedicated traffic light tied into the rest of the traffic lights at the intersection. The traffic light is activated when a bicyclist rides over a marking on the trail to trigger the light. The bike traffic light then turns green; the regular traffic lights in all directions turn red, stopping all motor vehicle traffic and allowing the bicyclist to go through.
I finally took my Pilot out for its first real ride yesterday. The weather was warm (low 60′s Fahrenheit), sunny, and very windy. It was so windy that I felt like I could get knocked over a couple of times.
I didn’t get a start until 6:00, so I was afraid that I would be riding out in the dark by the time I got home. Why didn’t I get out sooner? Well, I had to eat dinner, swap out the trainer tire on the back with a road tire, fill both tires with the appropriate amount of air, attach my portable pump (which requires completely removing a water cage), attach my lights, and change. However, the headlamp bracket doesn’t fit on the oversized handlebars. Since I had already put on about 575 miles before my first outdoor ride, I had already decided to stop at the local Trek Bicycle shop to get an adjustment. So it made sense to also shop for a new light (they don’t seem to sell just the brackets). With my bike ready, my bicycling clothes on, and a destination in mind, I was ready to venture out into traffic for the first time in six months.
Trek Bicycle co-founder Richard Dick Burke died of complications from cardiac surgery at the age of 73. He started the company to bring the glory of bicycle design and quality back to the United States. With a total of five employees, Trek Bicycles began building in a small red pole barn in Waterloo, Wisconsin. The movement he began eventually led to one of the most successful bicycles in the last 30 years. Lance Armstrong won Le Tour de France a record seven times, each time on a production Trek bicycle.
Trek is a Wisconsin-based company, so I have a special place in my heart for the company and its bike offerings. Dick Burke started his company while living in Milwaukee (my hometown). Waterloo is only miles from where I live now. Since I started riding again, I bought a Trek hybrid bike after trying out a number of different brands. Even after I realized that I prefer road bike riding, I tried out a handful of different bikes and fell in love with a Trek. So, yeah, the company that Mr. Burke started has a special place in my heart, all because of his vision.
I started bicycling last spring to ride outside throughout the spring, summer, and fall. But as I started becoming more serious about riding and the weather started becoming inclement in the winter, I moved indoors onto a bicycle resistance trainer.
Since riding a bicycle indoors over the past few months, a number of people asked me about a trainer. They’re either somewhat recreational riders or are looking to keep in shape during the winter months (and believe me, getting out this past winter has not been easy). So this post attempts to provide some plain language on what a trainer is and what to expect.
Words cannot begin to describe the feelings I have over the retirement of one of the greatest quarterbacks of my generation. Yet I fully support his decision. His statement of feeling tired mentally shows that he feels it’s time to move on. He made almost every game exciting, and every Packers fan had hope when number 4 stood behind the center and commanded the Green Bay offense.
Since coming to Green Bay during his second professional season, Brett Favre showed that true heroes still exist. He took a struggling offense and brought it to the top of its game. Along with leadership on the defense (namely the late, great Reggie White), he led the team to its first Super Bowl in almost 30 years and brought the title back to Titletown. As the only three-time winner of the MVP Award, Favre continued to break records, right through his last season.
